Second Chances
by gleekout88
Summary: Emily Fields had it all, until she threw it away. Even Paige left her. Can they work through it in order to save their relationship? Will include all the girls, but will focus on Emily and Paige.
1. Chapter 1

"Here you go. Now remember, I am not responsible if Paige finds out. I don't want her coming after me again. I am still paying the medical bills from last time." Tammy said as she handed Emily the bag. That should last you all week."

"Don't worry, she won't even know I have this. She is working a double, and she has more to lose now if she acts out again." Emily replied, getting out of the car and walking to her own.

It was about was about two in the afternoon, Emily getting ready to start her long weekend. She was a senior in college now in NYC. She had convinced Paige that was where they needed to go after graduating high school. Paige was in her third year working for the NYPD. She had decided when they got to New York that she didn't want to go to school, instead signing up for the police academy. They needed a steady income to pay for their scrappy little apartment anyway. Their scrappy little apartment that Emily had just walked into. They had actually managed to make it look decent after a few scrub downs and a few layers of paint. It was their home. Emily set the her bag on the living room table and walked into their bedroom to change.

"Em?" She heard after the door closed. Emily immediately remembered the bag she had left on the table and came running out to greet Paige.

"Hey! I thought you were working a double? What happened?" Emily asked.

"Chief said I had way to much overtime, sent me home. Did you go shopping? Did you get my cookies?" Paige asked moving over to pick up the bag. Emily put her head down at what she knew her girlfriend had found.

"Paige, it isn't what you think." She said.

"I feel like even you don't believe that! We talked about this Emily! My God, I am a cop! You are finally finishing up with school!" She was cut off by Emily before she could finish.

"It is really stressful Paige! You have no idea!" She yelled back, defending herself.

"Oh, I have no idea? What because I didn't go to school? I'm a fucking cop Emily. In a city with over a million people in it! I deal with murders on a daily basis, but no, I have no idea how stressful your day at school is!" Paige said watching Emily deflate at her words.

"Paige..." Emily said before Paige interupted.

"No Emily. I told you the last time I wasn't going to tolerate it. I can't stand by and watch you kill yourself with this shit. I love you too much to watch it. I gave you an ultimatum, drugs or me. And it seems you have made your choice." Paige said while moving to the bedroom. She took out her duffle bag from work and started throwing clothes into it. Emily followed her into the room, grabbing Paige's arms to still the girl. "Emily I can't do this again. I am going to go to Spencer's and stay for a while." Paige continued to pack.

"I love you Paige." Emily said as Paige reached for the door handle. Paige stood there for a few minutes before she said "I love you too" back to the girl.

Emily turned and looked at the bag the minute her front door had closed. For the first time in her life she and Paige started dating, Emily Fields felt lost. In all the times that Emily had really messed up, Paige had never once left. But after the last time that Paige came home to Emily passed out in the bathroom, from taking too many pills and drinking too much, she told Emily she was to chose her or the drugs.

But Paige didn't understand her addiction. She didn't understand her stress. Emily moved to the fridge and opened a beer bottle that she had bought earlier that day, almost finishing it in two gulps. She opened another and moved to the living room to sit on the couch. Opening the paper bag up she had gotten earlier, Emily took out the bottle of pain killers and popped two into her mouth, swallowing them with a swig of her beer. If she was going to get through a weekend alone, without Paige, she might as well party it up. Even if it was just her. She woke up three hours later to loud banging on the door and two voices she hadn't heard in years yelling to open the door.

On her way to Spencer's Paige called the girl ahead of time and gave her a heads up that she needed a place to crash for awhile. The girl told her she was welcome for as long as she needed without a second thought. When Spencer hung up her phone she called Aria and Hannah for backup. She knew that if Paige left Emily, it had to of been bad. She knew the two girls would come to NYC to help Emily and Paige in a heartbeat. And she was right, both girls were on a plane from L.A. in a matter of hours. They were all going to help the two girls.

Paige knocked on the door of Spencers loft. When spencer opened the door, Paige fell into her arms, letting out a sob as Spencer pulled her in, closing the door.

"I can't do it anymore, Spence. She is breaking my heart." The girl cried out.

"Don't worry Paige, I called the girls. We are going to get her and you through it. This will be the last time she falls off, ok? You guys will be ok." Spencer reassured the girl.

"I just can't trust her right now Spencer, and I am just so tired of it." Paige said.

"I know. But you are going to stay here, they are going to stay there. We will work through this, together. And you two will work through this together. You guys will be ok. I know it." Spencer said.


	2. Chapter 2

"Go away" Emily yelled from her spot on the couch, finishing her second beer. She got up and moved to the bathroom. It the tank of the toilet Emma kept a bottle of vodka. Removing it from the tank, wiping it dry with a towel, Emily made her way back to the living room.

"Em, open the door now!" She heard Hannah yell.

"Open it yourself." She mumbled to herself, laughing lightly. She took the lid of the bottle and took a few swigs of the vodka.

"Ok, fine!" She heard footsteps moving outside, assuming the girls decided to leave her alone, as requested. Then she heard someone walking faster to the door and a loud bang before her front door was flying open. The three women just starred at each other for what felt like hour.

Hannah and Aria couldn't believe how bad Emily looked, sitting on the couch holding a vodka bottle. She had lost weight, some of her color and she had dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Aria walked over to the girl and kneeled down in front of her.

"Oh Em." She whispered taking the bottle from Emily. Tears filled Emily's eyes.

"She left me. Paige actually left me." Emily couldn't hold back the tears now.

"Well that would be your fault." Hannah said after she let the girl cry for a little bit.

"Hannah!" Aria snapped.

"What, it is? A little tough love is what she needs right now. I am not sugar coating this." Hannah said, making her way to the table.

"She is right. I really fucked up this time, and now she is gone." Emily said. Aria sat down beside the girl and pulled her into her, noticing that the girls body was as cold as ice.

"How many of these did you take?" Hannah said, turning around showing Emily a baggie of pills. "How many Emily?"

"A...few..." Emily said, head hanging lowly and her body flinching a little from trying to stay awake.

"Hannah, she is really cold." Aria said, voice filled with fear. Hannah walked over to the girl and put her hand on her forehead, feeling herself that Emily was very cold. She pulled Emily's face up and saw that the girl was passed out. She opened Emily's eyes and saw that she was not lucid at all. The mixture of too much alcohol and a "few" pills taking its effect. The desire that Emily had wanted, that neither girl knew.

"We need to get her to the hospital now. She needs her stomach pumped. I don't even know how many pills she took!." Hannah said scooping Emily up, noticing that the girl was very light, she had lost a lot of weight since they last saw her.

Spencer pulled Paige down into the couch and went to get her bags and close the door. Once inside she got the girl a glass of water. Handing it to Paige, Spencer took a seat beside her.

"So what happened?" Spencer asked.

"I was supposed to work a double. Chief sent me home. When I got there Emily must have just gotten home. She had the bag sitting on the table in the living room. It had a baggie of pills in it. When I asked her about it she said that I didn't understand how stressed she was. That school was too much. It's always the same argument Spence, I just don't understand how stressed she is. She always brings it back to me not going to school. I work for the NYPD! I'm a goddamn cop working twelve or eighteen hour shifts to put her through school and to pay for our apartment, yet I don't know stress?" Paige said, getting more angry. "I'm stressed too, but coming home to her was how I chose to deal with it. Being with her and making her happy was my stress relief."

Spencer didn't know what to say to Paige. Since moving to NYC, the two had gotten close. Paige was one of the strongest people that she had ever met. But right now, looking at her best friend, so broken and run down, really scared her.

"I just want Emily back. I want the love of my life to come home. Because the girl I left at our apartment, isn't the girl I gave up so much for to be with." Paige said.

"What do you mean gave up?" Spencer asked.

"I had a full to ride scholarship to CU. But when Emily said her dream school was in New York, I gave up th he scholarship to be with her. I would follow that girl anywhere." Paige said, sadness lacing her tone.

"Paige I didn't know that." Spencer said in shock.

"No one but my parents did. Mom understood, but dad didn't. That is why I don't speak to him anymore. He never understood how I could give up something I worked so hard for, for a girl." Paige said.

"But it wasn't any girl." Spencer said.

"No it wasn't." A few minutes passed between the few before Paige spoke again. "Leaving that apartment was the hardest thing I ever did."

"It needed done Paige. She needs to know that she can't keep doing this to you. Maybe it's time to tell her the whole truth. What you just told me about CU." Spencer said. Before Paige could answer her phone began to ring. "Hello, yes. What? No. No, we are on our way Hannah. We need to go now, their taking Emily to the hospital."

The two women scrambled out the door and rushed to Spencer's car. The whole time Paige thinking that she made a mistake in leaving the girl alone, that if anything happens to get, it's her fault.


	3. Chapter 3

_Paige had just texted Emily that she got some college letters that would either be rejected or acceptance letters. Emily immediately texted her back and told her that she got some too and that she should come over and they would open them together. _

_"How many did you get?" Emily asked. _

_"Just two." Paige told her, holding both envelopes in her hand. She hasn't told Emily about her plans for CU or that she had applied. _

_"Only two? I applied to five, but I'm really hoping for one." Emily said excitedly, holding up a letter from NYU. "They have the top science program in the state. I really would love to go to NYC and live. A nice change from Rosewood." The girl finished with a dreamy look in her eye. _

_They opened their respective letters, Emily squeling loudly when she opened her NYU letter. Paige's heart sinking when she opened her letter and saw that she had been accepted. That she had received a full scholarship from their swimming program to study for four years in her chosen degree. But the look on Emily's face, looking at the letter from her dream school, it broke Paige's heart to think of spending their first four free years together, apart. _

_All she had wanted for the past three years was to be with interruptions, parents or A. They were finally free to be just them. So when Emily asked her if she had been accepted into her chosen school, Paige said the first thing that came to get mind at the thought of them being apart. _

_"Um, no. I didn't get it." She said. Her voice laced with sadness, for giving up a dream she worked so hard for. But she reminded herself that Emily was what she worked harder for. Where her heart lied. _

_"Well that sucks. But you know what that means." Emily said, stepping between the girls legs and putting her arms around Paige's neck. _

_"What's that?" Paige asked back. _

_"Come to New York with me Paige. Let's start our life together." Emily said. _

Paige was snapped out of her daydream by Spencer's hand making contact with the back of her head.

"What was that go out?" Paige yelled.

"That was for not paying attention to me." Spencer said.

"You are a child." Paige said back to the girl.

"I'm trying to explain what were going to do one we get to the hospital. Paige, Hannah said that she doesn't think this was an accidental overdose. She thinks Emily did this on purpose." Spencer said. She placed her hand on Paige's leg when she saw the girl shudder. "Did you know she was that bad?"

"I wouldn't have left her if I'd known that this was what was going to happen Spencer!" Paige yelled back.

"I know you wouldn't have." Spencer said.

"It's my fault. I left her. I always said I wouldn't do that." Paige began to cry. When they arrived at the hospital, Paige took off in a dead run to the front desk. Aria and Hannah caught her before she could ask where Emily was. They told her everything the doctor had told them. That Emily had overdosed on the pain pills and alcohol mixture. That they pumped her stomach and were now waiting for her to wake up to see if there is any brain damage. At the last bit of news Paige collapsed on the floor sobbing.

"I need to see her." Paige sad.

"No. Paige, when she wakes up, you can't be there." It was Aria that said this, surprising all the girls. "She needs to know that she can't just do this and you will pick het back up. She needs to know her choices have consequences."

"Aria is right. Spencer will go in with her. Tell her that this time, she gets help or she gets no one. Seeing you will make her think that you are ok with this. That this situation is acceptable." Hannah said.

"But I need to see her." Paige said.

"Make her come to you." Hannah said.

"That is actually a genius plan Hannah." Spencer said.

"Four years of psychology school have done her wonders." Paige said with a small laugh. She knew the girl was right.

"Hey, I'm just glad I found something I love doing that I am great at!" Hannah said.

"And there she is again." Spencer said, laughing at the blonde.

"So what do I do now?" Paige said.

"Let her pick up from her mistakes." Hannah said.

"And what if I am not something she comes back to?" Paige asked.

"She will. She loves you more than anything in this world Paige. She was talking about you when we got to the apartment." Aria said.

"She will come back to you." Spencer added. "And then you can start to heal together."

Spencer handed Paige money to go back to Spencer's apartment with Hannah and Aria. Spencer told her to wait there for her to come home with news. That she would call Paige the minute Emily woke. She told Hannah to order whatever food they wanted and to set up her guest rooms for them, all four girls would be staying at Spencer's. Paige kept re playing the moment when Emily asked her to go to NYC with her. Every time she knew what her answer would be.

_"Yes, Em. Yes I will go to NYC with you." Paige responded to Emily's question without hesitation. Emily screamed in joy and dove at Paige. Kissing her deeply before grabbing her hand and pulling her to the stairs. Paige slipped the letter into her purse on the way past, Emily was never to know about this. _

"I need to go back to my place, I don't have my uniform for tomorrow." Paige said after the girls gave her a confused look when she gave the cab her address instead of Spencer's.

Upon entering the house Paige looked at the table where the bag was. She walked over to it and took out the green baggie. She knew instantly who Emily had bought from. Her blood boiled, her fist clenched as she put the baggie in her back pocket. She turned around to see the two girls standing in the doorway, blowing past them and running down the hall to the stairs, leaving the apartment building when she reached the ground floor.

"Paige took off!" Aria yelled into her phone after Spencer picked up.


	4. Chapter 4

"I would really think twice before you do something stupid, McCullers." Tammy said.

"And I thought I taught you a lesson last time you sold to my girlfriend." Paige said, stepping closer to the girl, backing her up against the wall.

"Emily said that you had more to lose this time than just probation. You won't do anything." Tammy said, smirking at the girl that was a good foot taller than her.

"I might lose Emily, so things have changed." Paige said raising her clenched fist at the girl and grabbing her by the collar of her shirt.

_"McCullers, I have to put you on probation. You beat the shit out of her just because she sold drugs to your girlfriend. She is in the hospital McCullers. The only reason she isn't pressing charges is because we aren't going after her for drug possession or distribution." Chief Maxwell said. _

_"What if it was your wife, your daughter sir?" Paige asked. Chief Maxwell got up from his desk and shut the door to his office. He walked over and sat in the chair directly beside Paige. _

_"I'm not saying what you did was wrong Paige. I would have done the same if I were in your position. But there are protocols you have to follow. I see a very bright future for you Paige. Please don't throw that away for one drug dealer. She will get hers one day. We will get her." _

"Freeze! Both of you, hands in the air!" Screamed a voice behind Tammy and Paige.

"Times up McCullers, this time you are going down." Tammy whispered when Paige let her go. But Paige knew the voice that came from behind her, smirking at Tammy. She turned and walked over to Maxwell and stood.

"Go home McCullers. We got her." Maxwell said. Paige walked away from the scene hearing officers reading Tammy her rights. Maxwell saying how they had caught her dealing laced drugs to an under cover cop. That she was going away for a long time. When Paige rounded the corner she saw Hannah and Aria standing by her car, waiting for her.

"How did you know?" Paige asked.

"We called Spencer as soon as you took off. She called your Chief." Hannah said, hugging Paige tightly. Paige clung to the girl, finally crying. They stood there for a few minutes before Aria suggested going to a diner to eat before going back to Spencer's for the night.

"Yea, he said it was laced with something Spence. Yes. No, he didn't say what it was with. I don't know. It could have been. Their still at the apartment. Yes you can go get them, you can do anything to help her Spencer. Thank you." After they got to the diner Paige called Spencer and told her what she had heard Maxwell say to Tammy. About the pills being laced with something else. Spencer said she was going to run to Emily and hers apartment to get them, so the doctors could test them. They were both hopeful that Emily didn't overdose on purpose. That she didn't know how strong they were.

"That is good news Paige. Taking Tammy off the streets for a long time." Aria said.

"Yea, long enough to get Emily sober, at least she won't have a dealer when she gets out of the hospital." Hannah said.

"Yea." Paige said.

"You don't seem too happy with that news." Aria said.

"You know how many dealers are on out block, let alone in all of New York? If she wants something, she will get it." Paige said, picking at her dinner. "It is up to her now. If it was my choice I would take her home and never let her leave the apartment." Paige said.

"How long does she have left of this semester?" Hannah asked.

"Monday would have been her last exams." Paige said.

"Maybe you two should go away after?" Hannah suggested.

"That would be nice, but I can hardly afford our crappy apartment, let alone a trip." Paige said.

"I want to pay for it." Hannah said.

"Hannah I can't let you do that." Paige argued.

"I'm not asking you if I can, I am doing it." Hannah said, getting her phone out and typing away.

"Hannah, we don't even know if she wants anything to do with me right now." Paige said, deflating at her own words.

"Oh, she wants you still. You two are disgustingly close." Aria said.

"Not lately we haven't been." Paige said.

"She is just stressed with school. Our senior years sucked." Hannah said.

"Yea, I guess. I just, she stopped talking to me about things, about how she was feeling." Paige said. "We um, we haven't been together in over three months."

"What?" Both girls said together.

"You two used to be all over each other." Hannah said with a smirk.

"Yea, well, something changed with her. I still wanted her, but every time I went to make a move she would shoot me down. Then the drugs and drinking started coming to the surface. I physically miss her." Paige said beginning to cry again.

"Ok, lets go back to Spencer's now. There is ice cream!" Hannah said, making the other two girls laugh at her excitement for ice cream.


	5. Chapter 5

"Well it will be your word against hers. She is a known drug dealer McCullers, a lot of people want her put away. You will be in the clear, it will be ok." Chief Maxwell said to Paige.

The next morning Paige's boss called her into his office to discuss the case against Tammy. She had decided to use the altercation with Paige as defence in court, hoping they will lighten her sentence and Paige would be in more trouble. Her boss assured her that it was a respectable cops word against a strung out drug dealer, but Paige couldn't help but feel that this would be where her career ended.

"What if it doesn't hold up? What if I am found guilty of police brutality?" Paige asked.

"You won't be, but if that is the case, I would have to suspend you without pay for three months." Maxwell told her. He excused her from his office, giving her a paid day.

All Paige wanted to do was go to the hospital and see Emily, but Spencer said that she couldn't. She knew the girls were right, that Emily had to come to her, so she decided that maybe she should go to Central Park for a walk, it was always Emily's favorite place to run.

"Paige?" Emily sat up in bed too quick and her head began to spin.

"Whoa, lay back down Emily, it was just a bad dream." Spencer said as she eased Emily back on the bed carefully.

"Where is Paige?" The girl asked.

"She isn't here. We talked about it and she agreed that being here right now wouldn't be the best idea." Spencer explained.

"I need her." Emily pleaded.

"Then maybe you should have thought of that before you decided to start with drugs again. Emily, what the hell were you thinking? That girl would do anything for you, she has done everything. And you just threw it away." Spencer's voice was rising she yelled at the girl in front of her.

"I know Spence! I know I have fucked up! You don't think I know?" Emily yelled back.

"How she still loves you, is beyond me." Spencer spoke with more ease in her voice now.

"I wouldn't blame her if she didn't anymore." Emily whispered.

"We have to ask you this Emily, but did you do this on purpose? Were you trying to kill yourself?" Spencer asked slowly.

"What? No! I just wanted to get high so I could forget about school and the exams I have Monday. Oh my God, I have exams on Monday. What day is it?" Emily started to panic, making her heart monitor go crazy.

"Hey, it is ok. It is Saturday morning, you can still take your exams on Monday. Their letting you out later today." Spencer said.

"I, uh, I don't want to be alone right now Spencer." The girl said.

"Good, because I am going to stay with you at your place. Hannah and Aria are staying with Paige, at mine." This seemed to ease some of the tension off the girl. "There is one more thing we need to discuss."

"What is that?" Emily asked.

"Paige kind of lost it when she went to the apartment and realized who you bought off of." Spencer said.

"Oh God, did she go after her again?" Emily's eyes widen at the thought of Paige doing that again.

_"Paige stop!" Emily yelled as tears made their way down her face. Paige had knocked Tammy down and was now on top of the girl, hitting her face as much as she could. It wasn't long before the cops showed up, called by Emily after she saw the look in Paige's eyes. The fire that burned there when she made the connection between Emily and Tammy. But the cops were too late and Tammy was already knocked unconscious. It took three cops to pull Paige away from the girl. Her knuckles were busted and covered in both their blood. She was put in the back of a squad car with Emily, one of the cops noticing her as one of their own. One of the ambulance crew came over to Paige and cleaned her hand off, telling her to go to the hospital for x-rays after the cops were done with her. The two girls didn't talk all the way to the hospital, where Paige was cleared with just a few cuts, that stitches fixed up. They didn't talk on the way back to Paige's station where she talked to Chief Maxwell. In fact, Paige didn't speak to Emily for a few days. Three to be exact. Not because she as mad at Emily, although she was furious with the girl. But because she was afraid of herself after what she did. She didn't know she had it in her. But Tammy went after the one thing she loved in this cruel world._

"She did." Spencer said.

"No." Emily said, putting her head back on the pillow, tears spilling over. "She has so much to lose."

"She stopped. I called Chief Maxwell after Hannah told me Page took off out of your apartment when she saw the bag. He got to her in time. Tammy has been arrested, will be going to trial. The police department has been going after Tammy for awhile now. She has been selling laced drugs. Laced drugs Emily! Did you even know what you poped in your mouth, let alone six of them?" Paige yelled at him.

"I didn't know Spence!" Emily yelled back.

"That's the point Emily! Paige gave you an ultimatum. Drugs or her. I just didn't think you would be stupid enough to ever choose anything over Paige." Spencer said, lowering her voice as she went.

"How do I fix this? Spence, I am so lost. I always thought that there was nothing I could do to make her walk away. I love her. I am more lost without her to guide me. I don't want to be sick anymore, I don't want to keep doing this." Emily began to cry harder now, her heart monitor beeping louder than before.

"Em, it is ok. I am here, your not alone." Spencer said as she ran her hands up and down Emily's arm, trying to soothe the girl.

"I am alone, I want her." Emily kept saying 'I want her' even as she rolled over on her side away from Spencer.

"You need to get out of here, and back to her. You need to go to rehab or meetings. Those are the conditions to get back to her. You need to start talking through your problems instead of drinking or doing drugs Emily, because I tell you, you are killing Paige. You are. And I can't stand by and let you do that. I love you Emily, but I, Paige has become a sister to me, and if it comes down to it, I have to help her." Spencer said.

"I know. I know. And I am ready..." Emily began but was cut off by Paige leaving the room and coming back with a woman in a white coat, a doctor.

"Tell her, please. Tell her what you were just going to tell me." Spencer said.

"I need help. I don't want to rely on drugs or alcohol anymore to deal with anything. I am ready." Emily said, looking the doctor in the eye.

"That is what I want to hear." Dr. Stevens said. Her and Spencer stepped out of the room and talked in the hallway, Emily unable to hear them.

"So, I can take you home tonight. Tomorrow you will have a meeting with Dr. Stevens, she will be your therapist. Monday you will be taking your exams, considering we are going to spend ALL of Sunday studying, after you get home. Then Monday evening, you are going on a little trip. A detox, if you will. And no. You don't get a say in any of it. This is how it is going to be done Emily. Get through the weekend, and there will be a prize for you Tuesday morning when you wake up." Spencer said, walking out of the room to sign some paperwork.

"PAIGE! Your plane leaves Sunday morning!" Hannah yelled to Paige, who was in a different room than the blonde.

"You think this is going to work?" Aria asked Hannah.

"Hey, I have Spencer backing me up on this one. So yea, I think it will work." Hannah said with a smirk.

"Where am I going to Hannah? I will only agree if you tell me where. How am I to know how to pack?" Paige asked, coming back into the room.

"I will pack for you. And if you want to move forward, this is how it is going to be done." Aria said.


	6. Chapter 6

"Paige get up! Come on! Han wants to go for a run! I promise, it will be fun!" Aria yelled through the door of Spencer's room, where Paige crashed the night before.

"Hey!" She heard Hannah protest.

"Well you always say that one should not run unless their being chased." Aria said as the girls continued their conversation in front of the bedroom door.

"Or if there is a really good designer sale. Like really good." Hannah said, making Aria laugh. Paige laughed lightly too, remembering now why she missed the two girls currently driving her crazy.

"Please just let me sleep." Paige grumbled from under her bed covers.

"Nope! We are not going to let you feed your depression! Running will get your endorphins flowing, and I promise you will feel better after a little exercise! Hannah retorted.

"You really have changed, haven't you?" Paige asked after she threw the bedroom door open.

"It is my greatest accomplishment, well so far." Hannah said with a wink in the girls direction.

The girls spent at least two hours jogging around central park. Aria was right. With the amount of times Hannah either physically fell, or fell hitting on someone, Paige did enjoy herself. Laughing at her blonde friend made her forget a little about her troubles. Her boss called her and told her that with the city building a case against Tammy, he thought it best that Paige take the three weeks vacation she had built up from the past three years.

So starting today, Paige had to find something to do with herself for three weeks. Well, maybe two with what Hannah had planned for Sunday morning. She told the girl she would be gone for a week, longer if the first week didn't "do what it is supposed to', as Hannah put it. The girl had no idea what she had planned. But with her and Emily's relationship in limbo, she thought that going away might be good for her. Emily.

This was the longest that Paige had ever gone without talking to her for the past five years. She missed her. She would stop what she would be doing just wondering if the girl was missing her. Thinking of her. Planning any sort of an apology. Paige knew she would have to apologize eventually. She didn't have to be the first one to do it, she didn't want Emily to see a weakness. Although Emily knew all of Paige's weaknesses, she didn't want the girl to think that what she had done was acceptable. That she couldn't just toy with Paige's heart of emotions. That she was furious for the choices that Emily made.

Then Paige would wonder if she had gone away to college, would things be different? Would they still be together? Considering that Emily was a year behind the other girls, having changed majors half way through a semester from a teaching degree to a athletic teacher, would Paige be done with school? Would she have that degree she thought she wanted so badly? Would she have come back to Emily. Would things have been different if they had money, if things weren't so stressed because she worked doubles all the time.

Paige talked to Spencer of the phone later that day. Spencer told her that Emily had been discharged after a hour long talk with the psychologist. They were now back at their apartment. Spencer still told her that seeing Emily wouldn't be such a good thing right now. Paige told Spencer about what she had been thinking about since she walked out of her apartment. Spencer suggested that she write them down, so when Emily finally came to her, they could talk about these things.

Paige was scared to tell Emily about school. Scared to let the girl know that she gave up a dream to be with her. She didn't want Emily to feel bad or to think that Paige made a mistake. Paige didn't think she made one. She would make that choice over and over again. She knows she would. But Knowing Emily, she would tell Paige that they would have found a way to make it work. That they could have done long distance.

But what if Paige wasn't there beside Emily last year when she decided to start taking pills? What if Paige hadn't been there that night, finding Emily on the floor of their bathroom, passed out and incoherent. Would Paige have ever found out in time to help her if she tried to hide it from her. What if no one had been there for Emily. Would she make it without the love of her life. Would she be able to move on from something like that? From a loss like that?

Paige had gotten over her parents, mostly her father, not speaking with her anymore. She accepted that. Her father stopped talking to her the day she told him that she turned down the scholarship. He told her that she was stupid to follow a girl to the city. That they would never make it there. What would her father say now if he could see them? Would he feel sorry for his daughter, or merely tell her he was right and shut the door in her face? Paige loved Emily. She knew that. There was no one else for her but Emily Fields. The girl was the light of her life. The only reason that she got up in the mornings. Hell, Emily was the only reason she was breathing most days. Why she worked so hard at her job, pulling doubles most of the time. She wanted to give Emily everything, even though the girl never asked for anything. Paige fell asleep that night holding the pen to paper, writing her thoughts down as they came to her. Things that she needed to tell Emily. Questions that she just had to have the answers for.

For Emily her night consisted of being, what she would describe as bullying, by Spencer. She knew Spencer meant well when she forced Emily to eat that night. She even knew she meant well when she told Emily that no doors were to be closed. No doors. Emily couldn't even close the bathroom door when she went to shower.

"Is this your way of getting to look at the goods?" Emily asked.

"Oh honey, no. Just, no. The goods you have, are nothing compared to Toby's." Spencer said with a wink.

"How is Toby?" Emily asked, missing the boy that had become a good friend to her.

"He is good. Wrapping up the house he is working on in Jersey. He sends his love. Wishes, or course, that you would have called him when things got bad. So expect an ass kicking when you get home from your trip." Spencer said with a laugh.

"Where am I going exactly?" Emily asked as she emerged from the bathroom. Feeling better after a hot shower. She was dressed in a sweat shirt and sweats of Paige's, from the academy. Should could still smell the orange hint of Paige on them.

"Wearing her clothes, sniffing them, that is a good sign." Spencer said as Emily took a seat beside her on the couch.

"I still love her. I still want her. Nothing will ever change that, not anymore. I know now what I did. I pushed her so hard, that she finally snapped and walked away. I don't want to feel that again. I don't want to know what it is like to stare at her back as she walks away from me. Once was enough. Once broke my heart enough." Emily said.

"Good. Now, you have a busy day tomorrow and an eight a.m. meeting with Dr. Stevens. Then studying! So lets go to bed." Spencer said, holding her hand out for Emily, dragging the girl to her and Paige's bedroom.

"Can I sleep on that side? It is Paige's." Emily said, looking at her side of the bed sadly.

"When was the last time you two spent a night apart from each other?" Spencer asked as the girls crawled in bed, both laying on their backs.

"How long have we been in New York?" Emily asked. She felt Spencer tug at her hand and Emily curled into the girl, crying softly as Spencer ran her fingers through Emily's hair.

"It will be ok." She said to reassure the girl, and herself.


	7. Chapter 7

"Em? Em, up, now! The fun starts today." Spencer said dryly as she rolled away from the girl, getting out of bed to turn off the alarm she set up across the room. Emily sits up in the bed. Her head swirling all around. She ran to the bathroom and threw up. Her head hurt, her stomach hurt and her chest hurt.

"Doctor said you would have hangover like symptoms for awhile today." Spencer says from where she is standing in the doorway.

"Advil." Emily says from her spot wrapped around that toilet.

"Nope." Spencer simply replies. "And don't bother looking for anything either. The girls did a clean sweep yesterday for any and all pills and alcohol."

"Come on Spencer, my head is killing me." Emily says.

"I made breakfast, come on out." Spencer said, leaving the doorway.

"No coffee?" Emily asks entering the living room.

"Figure if your going cold turkey, I will too. You can't have any, in case your wondering. Juice, water and tea. No caffeine." Spencer said. After a half hour of watching Emily pick at her breakfast, Spencer brought out her school work.

"You start while I clean up the kitchen. Tell if you need me." "Thanks Spence." Emily replied. The girl did add she was told, knowing that if she didn't pass her exams she had left Monday, she would have to redo the two classes. Spencer would continue to pop in and out of the living room through throughout the day, making sure Emily was working. Only a few times food Emily ask for help with studying. And Spencer noticed the small amount of food the girl ate as the day went along. They crawled into bed the same as the night before, Emily falling into a light nightmare filled slumber.

For Paige, her Sunday consisted of trying to make sure she didn't kill Hannah. It's not that she didn't love the blonde, it was just that by the time their third hour of some sloppy reality show was over, Hannah's commentary was bordering annoying. Aria to was getting bored with the girls planned comments about the shows or the people.

"If you hate it so much, why do you watch it?" Paige asked.

"I don't hate it. I just don't understand why certain people act that way when they know their on camera." Hannah said, causing the other two girls to roll their eyes.

"Can we watch something else? Before I murder you in your sleep?" Paige asked.

"Sure, I was fine with it episode before last anyway." Hannah said.

"Then why did we just sit through another hour?" Asia asked.

"I wanted to see how long Paige would hold out." Hannah said, laughing at herself.

"You know, if you weren't working so hard to save Emily and I, I would kill you."Paige dead panned.

"Speaking of, has she contacted you?" Hannah asked.

"No. Um, I'm going to go get a shower." Paige said. The other two girls listened for the shower to start running before they started talking.

"How is the plan going? Is Spencer going to be able to get her on her flight?" Asia asked.

"She sure will. Paige had no idea. I'm really glad I came up with this idea. I hate seeing the two of them so broken. I hate seeing Emily in so much trouble. I want our old Emily back, I really miss her." Hannah said sadly.

"I do too." Paige said from the doorway. "I do too. I'm going to head to bed." She walked into Spencer room and pulled the covers down. She slept on the same side as the night before. The site that would have been Emily's, if the girl were here. Paige had just set her alarm when the bed dipped down. Turning her head she saw Hannah get into the bed beside her. Hannah curled up close to get and tested her head in the space between Paige's neck and shoulder, throwing an arm over the girls midriff.

"I miss her so much Han." Paige began to cry softly.

"I know, Paige, I do too. We will get her back, I promise." Hannah said, hugging the girl as best she could in their position. Paige was awoken the next morning by the sound of a camera going off. She looked up to see Aria standing over her and Hannah.

"Proof that you didn't kill her. It's time to go to the airport" Aria said, handing both girls coffee when they say up.

"I didn't pack." Paige said.

"I did." Hannah replied.

"I have work this week." Paige said.

"Boss gave you time off, remember?" Aria said.

"I can't leave her again." Paige said sadly.

"It won't be for long. You need this. Need to get away from here. Spencer is taking care of her Paige, she is in good hands, you know that." Aria said. The girls watched as Paige borded the plane, calling Spencer soon after.

"Paige's plane just left." Hannah said.

"I have Emily in her second class now. When she is out, she will be on her plane too. I'm really glad you thought of this Han." Spencer said.

"While their gone, we will find an apartment for them close to you Spencer. Get them out of that area." Aria spoke.

"We have a week to get this done guys." Spencer said into the phone, hanging up as the girl walked out of the classroom. "How did that one go?"

"I guess we will see in a week." Emily said.

"Alright, I guess it is off to the airport for you now." Spencer said. "Don't look so worried Emily, you really do need this. And I promise, you will like where you are going."


	8. Chapter 8

Once on the plane, Emily started to relax a little. It took off on time and they were in the air. Soon the attendants came around adding for drink orders.

"Can I have a run and coke?" Emily asked the young girl in front of her.

"Ah, I was to give you this when you asked for alcohol, and to tell you water only." The girl handed Emily a water and a envelope. She took a sip of her water and opened the letter.

"Emily- I'm not trying to punish you, I promise. I just want you to get better. I want my old Em back. That is what this trip is for. If you are reading this letter, then that means you asked for a drink on the plane. Shame on you. We did so well over the weekend. And be nice to the flight attendant that have you this, she had to deal with the wrath that is Hannah. There will not be one slip up over the course of this week long detox, I am sending you something that will help you. It should arrive at your hotel room, shortly after you do. I want you to be happy Em. So happy. Concentrate on that this week, being happy. Just be, and I promise that you will be by the time you get home. That this trip will help you find what you have lost. I love you Emily. We all do." -Spencer

Emily finished the letter with tears in her eyes. She really had lost her way. She made her addictions a priority. She lost the one thing she lived more than anything. Paige. Emily finished her water as the pilot came on telling them their arrival would be a few more hours, so she reclined her seat and settled in.

Paige got on her plane and took her seat. Once in the air she took out a book and began reading. When the flight attendant came around, she handed Paige a glass of water and a letter too.

"Asshole- Don't fuck this chance up". -Hannah

Subtle, Paige thought. Chance? She had no idea what Hannah was talking about. She thought this was a little vacation.

Emily arrived at her hotel shortly after a terrible for in a mini can full of tourists. She finally found or that she was in Hawaii after they landed and the pilot announced it. The hotel was really nice. She felt really bad that Hannah would spend this kind of money on her, after the headache she had recently put them through. She was taken to her room and her luggage was set by the door. She began unpacking into the set of drawers in her room. She then went looking around. The room was big. Too big for just one person.

She set down on the bed and began flipping channels. After watching a movie for an hour and a half Emily made her way to her spacious balcony. It was over looking the most beautiful ocean view she had ever seen. She was so busy staring out at the scene that she only heard her room for close and not open. When she stepped into the room, what she saw was more beautiful than anything and made her breathing pick up.

"Paige."

AN: Sorry for the shorter chapters with this story, but now that they are together in the story, they will be longer. Promise. Also, I am 5 chapters into another Paily story and am starting to work on the second one for the Awakening sequel.


	9. Chapter 9

"Em." Paige just continued to stare at Emily. She had no idea this was what the field had planned. She was surprised. Althoughthinner and paler than she remembered her, Emily was still beautiful to Paige.

"Paige." Emily said again, making Paige smile and laugh at the girl.

"You said that once already." Paige said.

"I just... Paige I am so sorry. I should have never pushed you." Emily started, but was stopped when Paige put her hand up.

"I know you are sorry Em. You always say you are sorry. I just don't trust that you mean it." Paige said.

"Fair. I want to show you that I mean it Paige. I want to work on us." Emily said.

"You need to work on yourself too." Paige said, moving her bags into the room to the bed.

"I know I do." Emily held up her letter from Spencer. "It was left in my instructions for the week."

"You got a letter too?" Paige asked, removing gets from her back pocket.

"That was real nice of Hannah." Emily laughed. Paige read Emily's letter.

"I think I am going to go take a shower." Paige said, digging through here luggage to find new clothes.

"Um, Paige, do you want to go to dinner? There is a resturaunt down on the first floor." Emily asked nervously.

"Um, sure." Paige said. When she was in the bathroom she leaned against the door when she closed it and smiled. A nervousEmily asking her out was a great sign. Her old Emily was slowly coming back to her. Emily and Paige rode to the lobby in the elevator in complete silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. The two girls were just enjoying being in each others presence.

They were seated at the table and looking over the menu. Both girls ordered water to drink, to be on the safe side. Emily knew she was to have no caffeine, and Paige usually drank water with her meals anyway.

"Hawaii. I can't believe this is where Hannah sent us." Emily said.

"We do have great friends." Paige said.

"We do." Emily said. "There is a lot we need to talk about Paige. A lot I need to tell you."

"I have to tell you something too, something that Spencer thinks you should know." Paige said. Picking around at her food.

"Let's not do this tonight. Let's do that tomorrow. Let's spend all day tomorrow talking. Just be us tonight." Emily said.

"Ok. Let's just be us tonight." Paige said.

The two finished their dinner in relative silence. Streaming glances at each other every so often. When they got back to their room changed into their pajamas. Paige opted to take the couch for the night, not ready to be that close to Emily just yet, even though her heart was screaming for her to get into that bed.

The next morning Paige woke first, moving quietly to the bed to watch Emily sleep. After a few moments Emily began to sit, but Paige didn't move.

"Stop staring at me." Emily mumbled, a smile forming on her lips.

"Your just so beautiful." Paige said honestly.

"Please. I feel like crap right now, you must be blind." Emily said sitting up, still getting light headed. I thought Spencer said it would only last a few hours the first day, she thought to herself.

"Not feeling well?" Paige asked.

"Uh, no just a little dizzy actually. I still feel really tired to." Emily said after a yawn.

"You can lay back down for a little while if you'd like." Paige said, sitting on the side of the bed.

"I think I just need a good hot shower actually." Emily said getting up to find clothes for the day. When she opened her dresser drawer she saw Paige's clothes strewn next to hers, making her heart beat skip a little. "You never could organize a drawer, could you?"

"No, I could not. How about I order room service while you shower?" Paige asked the girl.

"Sure. No coffee for me though, not allowed to have any caffeine." Emily said making her way to the shower. She was startled about fifteen minutes later by Paige knocking on the door telling her the food was there. She had spent a good teen minutes of the shower leading up against the wall almost sleep. She didn't know why she was so tired. Maybe it was just the lack of caffeine that her body was not use to going without.

"You still look pretty tired Em, sure you don't want to go back to bed?" Paige asked, voice laced with concern for her girlfriend.

"No. Let's just eat breakfast. I have to call Dr. Stevens and report in for the day. Talk about my feelings and over all health." Emily said, sitting down at the table.

"Is Dr. Stevens a psychologist?" Emily nodded. "Em you didn't try to kill yourself, did you?" Paige asked slowly.

"No. I just, I wanted to forget. Forget what I did to you. Forget about school. I didn't do it on purpose. He did diagnose me with depression, so I have to call him everyday to check in. He couldn't start me on medication for our until everything was our of my system." Emily spoke, her head lowered.

"Hey, it is nothing to be ashamed of Emily." Paige said, tilting the girls had up with her finger. "The important part is is that you want help, that your working to overcome it."

"Yes. Yes I am ready to be done with it all. Drugs and alcohol. I never want to touch it again." Emily said.

After they ate breakfast, Emily went to the balcony to call her doctor. She told him about her and Paige being here together and that they were going to spend the day taking and working things out. She told him about her being extremely tired even after sleeping for nine hours the night before and on the plane. He told her that it was probably just hey leg, that her body would need time to adjust itself. Her then asked to speak briefly to Paige.

"So what did he say to you?" Emily asked once Paige was off the phone.

"Just too keep an eye on you. Which won't really be a problem since I don't have plans for us to leave the room today." Paige said making Emily stare at her with wide eyes and her mouth open. "Not like that Emily. Just that we are going to spend a major part of today talking." Emily walked away from the girl laughing. What Paige didn't tell her was that the doctor was concerned about how tired Emily was. Apparently the girl had done some serious damage to her heart. Paige was to call him back if Emily want feeling better by Thursday. She didn't want to tell the girl and upset her. They would just have to wait it out.


	10. Chapter 10

"You want to go first?" Emily asked.

"Sure." Paige said "this, uh, has to do with school. Remember the day we got our letters from college. The day you asked me to go to New York with you? My letter, um, this is harder than I thought." She paused for a moment father strength to tell Emily the truth. "I was accepted to CU. I was offered a full for year scholarship through swimming in a field of my choice." Emily starred at Paige for awhile.

"You, you declined it?" Paige nodded. "Why?"

"For you. The way you talked about the school in New York that had the program you wanted, I couldn't take that away from you." Paige explains. "You were so excited to have your dream come true. Your eyes and face when you saw that you were accepted, Emily I couldn't take that from you. And I didn't want to spend years apart." Paige had started crying.

"Paige, CU had that program too. If I had known I could have chose that school. It didn't matter where we went, just that we were together." Emily said pacing back and forth. "Do you regret it? Do you resent me for that decision you made?"

"Not at all." Paige said standing up and taking Emily's hands in hers. "I will never regret making you happy Emily. I'll never regret moving with you. That day you asked me to go with you, that was one of the happiest days in my life. I thought that, now, I will finally get to live my life with her, to start it with you. So no, I don't regret it. And I will never resent you for it." Paige walked over to her purse and took out the letter that she kept all these years and handed it to Emily.

"I can't believe it." Emily ran her hand over the letter. "This is why you get upset when someone brings up you not going to school?"

"One of us had to get a job to support us. NYU didn't offer a program I was interested in so I chose to get a job instead." Before she could continue Emily interrupted her.

"Your parents. That's why" Emily started.

"Yes. That is why they stopped talking to me all together. Dad couldn't see how I could throw that all away for some girl." Paige said.

"Paige." Emily said.

"You're not just some girl Em. You were my first. And I want you to be my last. And I would give away anything to be with you forever. I would make this decision every time." Paige said honestly.

"I knew you loved me back then, I could feel it. But this.." Emily takes off.

"I know. So now it is your turn. Why didn't you tell me you felt depressed?" Paige asked.

"I didn't know how to tell you. I felt ashamed. You work so hard for us. I didn't want to burden you with it. I wanted to be happy for you." Emily spoke slowly as tears filed down her face.

"I'd love you no matter what. We could have worked it out." Paige said.

"I started drinking after classes, when I knew you would be working doubles. It made me feel better, until it didn't. Then one day Tammy came into the bar. She started coming in more, I guess she was selling to people in there. One of the guys noticed that I had become a regular and that the alcohol stopped doing its job and introduced me to Tammy. I told her I wanted a pick me up, and that is when it started. She gave me something that night that I snorted, and it worked." Emily said, handing her head. "I couldn't handle the nosebleeds that came with snorting though, so I decided to just stick to pills."

"I thought those few nosebleeds were from allergies." Paige shook her head. How has she missed so many signs. "How long? How long until the first time when I went after her?"

"Three months. The last month it was almost every other day." Emily said.

"Why didn't you come to me?" Paige said. "I wouldn't of had to beat the shit out of anyone. I wouldn't of had to have stitches." Paige said trying to lighten the mood for Emily, to make her smile.

"I'm so sorry you had to do that." Emily said, taking Paige's hand in hers, running her finger over the scars left from the stitches and cut.

"I did it for you." Paige said, placing her hand over Emily's.

"And recently?" Emily asked.

"The thought of her getting inside your head, breaking up my family, hurting you. I lost it. But Spencer knew and called my chief. He got there before I hit her. That's when I heard that the pills were laced." Paige said. "She is going to be going away for awhile."

"Will you have to testify?" Emily asked.

"She is trying to build a police brutality case against me. Maxwell says it won't take. A lot of people want her put away." Paige said.

"But what if she gets it? What will happen to you?" Emily asks.

"Chief will suspend me for a few months." Paige said.

"Paige, I never meant for this to happen." Emily said sadly, thinking of how she had drug Paige down with her.

"I know you didn't Em. It's a choice I made. And like school, I'd do it again to keep you safe." Paige said. The two then sat there for a few minutes, neither one speaking. "Will you go out with me, Emily Fields?" Paige asked, making her girlfriend laugh at her. "We are starting over. Ok?"

"Completely over? Because there are somethings I don't want to start over on." Emily said.

"Just go to dinner with me, dork." Paige said. Paige told Emily to dress up, both girls wearing dresses. Paige led Emily out of the hotel and on to the street. She could see Emily's hesitation to grab her hand, so Paige did it for her. The smile on Emily's face at the gesture could have lit up the partially dark street.

"This is too fancy Paige! We can't afford this." Emily said after they were seated at a upscale seafood resturaunt.

"Well lucky for us, Hannah have us an allowance." She said with a giggle.

"Remind me to send her a very nice thank you cards." Emily laughed out.

"She said that if we came home happy and healthy, that would be enough of a thanks for her." Paige said.

"Are we happy?" Emily asked.

"I know I am. I'm very happy. The real question is, are you? Are you really happy?" Paige asked.

Emily reached across the table and grabbed Paige's hand before saying, "for the first time in awhile, I genuinely am."

"Good." Paige responded.

After dinner the field found themselves on the deserted beach. The only lights were this of the hotels from a distance. The two day side by side, knees drawn to their chests. Paige wanted to move closer to the girl, but she was afraid that with Emily's earlier hesitation just to hold her hand, that she would scare the girl away.

"It is amazing how well we can read each other." Emily said, moving closer to Paige before the girl had time to respond.

They were looking at each other and sitting so close that Emily could feel Paige's breath hitting her own lips when she turned to look into the girls eyes. Paige was the bold one that moved forward first, her lips grazing against Emily's, breathing her in, but not giving Emily what she wanted. She wanted her to work for it, to come to her. Paige began to slightly pull back before she felt Emily's lips on hers. The girl leaning into Paige.

The kiss wasn't heated. It was slow and sweat, just lips on lips. Paige moved her hand to Emily's hips just as the other girl brought her hands to Paige's neck. Moving them slowly to Paige's hair, scratching lightly on her way up, knowing it drove Paige crazy. Paige moved to push Emily onto her back. Emily doing her by putting one of her hands behind her do that she was leaning all her weight on it, keeping her other hand in Paige's hair. She used that hand to pull Paige's hair slightly to make the girl told her head back, her upper body leaning slightly with it. Emily used this position to get advantage as she made her way on top of Paige.

"This would be easier without these stupid dresses." Paige said as Emily made her way down the girls jaw line. "I hate dresses. I only wore it because you like me in them."

"I find you very sexy in dresses." Emily mumbled against her neck, biting it before she lightly sucked the spot, knowing that Paige would have her mark in the morning.

"Em, wait. Let's go back to the room." Paige said, pushing Emily back slightly.

"What if the mood changes from here to there?" Emily asked shyly.

"I'm always going to want you." Paige said with a husky voice. "Let's go to the room and continue this."


	11. Chapter 11

As soon as the elevator doors were closed Paige was on Emily. Her mouth finding the girls pulse point on her neck, moving to her jaw line.

"Paige." Emily moaned when Paige's hand grabbed her thighs and lifted her up, pissing her dress up mid thigh in the process, Emily locking her legs around Paige's waist. Paige pushed her up against the elevator wall. They carried on for twelve floors, only breaking apart at the sound of reaching their floor.

Paige fumbled with the key card to their room, too anxious to get it to work properly. Emily put her hand over Paige's and stilled her. "If your nervous, I know it has been awhile since we have been together, we don't have to do anything tonight. I would just really like for you to be in the bed with me when I wake up."

"I have full intentions of using that bed." Paige said, grabbing Emily's hands and pulling her inside making Emily laugh.

Paige shut the door and slammed Emily into it with her own body, making the girls laugh get stuck in her throat and come out as a strangled moan. Paige picked up where she left off in the elevator, attacking her neck and collar bone, tugging at the dress straps.

"Off." Paige husked out against Emily's skin. Paige reached behind Emily and un zipped her dress. As she pulled in lower on the girl her mouth followed. Emily's dress fell the rest of the way off to the floor, leaving the girl in a red pair of panties and no bra, sending a wave of arousal right to Paige's center.

Paige picked Emily up of the ground and walked to the bed, setting her down on the bed, kidding her deep before pulling back and un zipping her own dress, slowly pulling it down, giving Emily a little show by swaying her hips.

"Come here." Emily said after the dress was on the ground, grabbing Paige's hand and pulling the girl down on top of her. Like Emily, Paige didn't wear a bra with her dress either, causing both girls to shudder when their bare chests touched. "I've missed you." Emily whispered.

"I never went anywhere Em. I'm still not going anywhere." Paige said, sealing the promise with a kiss.

Paige moved her mouth down Emily's jaw line to her collar bone, then lower until she took one of Emily's nipples between her lips. Biting on it softly before sucking, she felt the girl buck her center up into Paige's stomach, moaning her name. Paige then moved lower kissing her way down to where Emily needed her most. Stopping at her hip bones Paige looked up at the girl, remembering how beautiful a turned on Emily Fields looked. She then hooked her fingers in the girls panties and slowly pulled them down, kissing down one thigh, and back up the other when the barrier was gone.

She wasted no time in attaching her mouth to Emily, wanting the girl to feel something that had been missing between them for months. She could feel Emily squirm beneath her and she ran her tongue up her already dripping slit. She wanted this as bad as the girl beneath her did, so Paige asked no time in skipping two fingers in Emily, moving her mouth to Emily clit and sucking. It was only minutes until Paige felt Emily tugging her up by her hair. Paige replaced her mouth with her thumb, continuing her motions on the girl. Paige was now face to face with Emily. This is the part that she loves, watching Emily come undone. It was sexier than anything Emily could ever try to do.

A few more minutes and Emily's body voluntarily lifted off the mattress and pressed up into Paige's before falling back into the bed. Paige's fingers trapped in Emily as her walls tightened around her, feeling every wave that passed through the girl, her thumb never letting up as she built Emily back up quickly. It wasn't long before Emily screamed out Paige's name and buried her face in Paige's shoulder, biting down hard, causing Paige to groan and push her body down into Emily's, collapsing on top of her.

"Holy shit." Paige said after a few minutes of the girls catching their breathe.

"Hmm..." was all Emily could say. Paige went to move of Emily but the girl beneath her grabbed hold of her, not allowing her to move. "Don't move, please, just give me a minute and I will totally get you back."

"No, I am totally content." Paige said. "I just really missed this, us. Being with you. This what I wanted tonight. I just wanted you.

So we are not moving until the morning." Paige rolled onto her side so she was laying side by side with Emily, their legs entwined, Paige's arm thrown over Emily's waist.

Emily woke the next morning in the same position, Paige's body snug against hers, arm warm across her stomach. She lay there taking in the moment. She had really missed the girl laying beside her. She turned her head to put it in Paige's hair and smell. When she took a deep breath, she felt a sharp pain in her chest that made her whole body flinch and her breath to hitch. The sudden movement woke Paige up. She moved her hand up and down the girls stomach before she looked up at Emily's face, a Paige's expression covering the girls features.

"Em, babe what wrong?" Paige asked, sitting up. Emily smiled through the pain she was in, making Paige make a confusing face.

"I don't want to go months without you calling me that again." Emily whispered before another pain shot through her.

"Emily, tell me what's wrong, now." Paige grabbed a hold Emily's face to get the girl to look at her, Emily's breathing becoming more labored.

"It's my chest. My chest hurt." Emily said. Paige jumped out of bed and started frantically getting dressed, remembering the phone call she had with the doctor the previous day. The one where he said that Emily could easily have a heart attack before the drugs were out of her system. After she was finished getting dressed she got clothes out for Emily.

"Em, I need you to get dressed so we can go to the hospital." Paige said as calmly as she could to not scare Emily.

"Paige, it is nothing, probably just a panic attack." Emily said sitting up, the pain in her chest becoming stronger. Emily layed back down, taking deep breaths.

"Oh, were going." Paige said as she walked over to the bed and dressed Emily herself. Paige helped her of the bed and down to the lobby, the whole time using her phone to call an ambulance. By the time they got to the lobby the paramedics were waiting for them. The time it took for the girls to be loaded into the ambulance and on their way, Emily had gotten really tired and before they got to the hospital she had more or less passed out from exhaustion.


	12. Chapter 12

"Ma'am you're going to have to wait out here for now." A young looking doctor said.

"No. I promised I wouldn't leave her again. Please don't make me leave her." Paige was holding onto Emily's hands so tight her knuckles were white.

"Hun, the doctors need space to work on her." A older nurse stepped between Paige and Emily, pushing her back to separate the two. Paige took the hunny and backed up against the walls, her eyes never leaving Emily's face.

"Name?" The doctor yelled out.

"Emily. Emily Fields." Paige spoke up. She then told the doctor what Emily's had told her on the phone, about the drugs and her heart.

"And you are?" The doctor said as he placed monitor tabs on Emily's chest.

"Paige McCullers. I'm her girlfriend." Paige said looking briefly at the doctor before looking back at Emily.

The doctor continued to work on Emily and run tests on the girl. They have her medicine that would help her relax and told Paige she would more than likely sleep on and off for a few hours. The heat monitors that they hooked up to her chest would keep track of her heart beats and alert them immediately if anything were to go wrong. He then told Paige that her blood pressure was very low, that is probably what caused her to get so tired so quickly. He then explained that the drug being laced with steroids would have caused her a heart attack. That they weren't sure, until more tests came back, if it was a minor one or not one at all. They situated Emily and Paige into a room as he excused himself, saying all they had to do now was wait for the results.

"Paige." It was soft and she actually thought that she hadn't heard it at all, not until she felt the hands in hers move slightly.

"Babe?" Paige said jumping up from her chair at the side of Emily's bed.

"Hmm, never get tired of that." Emily said with a slight smile on her face. "What happened?"

"You may have had a heart attack. Little side affect of the steroids that the pills were laced with." Paige explained.

"How did you know to get me to the hospital so quick?" Emily asked, still keeping her eyes closed, too tired to open. Paige noted how slowly she was speaking too.

"The other day when the doctor asked to speak to me. He told me to keep an eye on you for these symptoms. That I wasn't to say anything to you, thinking if you didn't know it could happen, maybe you would keep your spirits up and it could be prevented." Paige said. "Baby, I need to see you look at me." Paige said moving to strike the girls cheek with that hand that she wasn't hold onto Emily tightly with. Emily opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the harsh light of the room, Paige jumping up to turn the lights off, keeping the one over her bed on. Paige made her way back to the girl, taking her hand again and continuing stroking her face, hers just inches from Emily's.

"I'm so tired." Emily said.

"Just look at me once, remember how you made me look at you that night at my pool?" Paige asked.

"Remember what we did in the pool after that race I won?" Emily asked making Paige blush.

"As I recall I won?" Paige said.

"Hmm, I think we both won that night." Emily said, cracking her eyes open finally, slowly. "Hi."

"I love you." Paige said softly, kissing Emily's lips. The monitor beeping. "Ok. Ok. Too much." Paige pulled away.

"Never too much." Emily mumbled, closing her eyes again.

"Yes too much." The nurse from earlier said entering the room. "Your monitor beeps at the nurses station too, so, Paige, don't do anything to raise her heart rate." The nurse said winking at the girl.

"She always makes my heart race." Emily said.

"We really need you to take it easy until your results come back." The nurse said as she checked her vitals.

"My arm hurts." Was all Emily got out before the monitor went crazy, until it completely stopped, followed by a flat noise. The nurse pressed a button behind Emily's head on the bed and a loud noise could be heard in the hall. Paige could see all the bustle from nurses and doctors as they all scrambled into Emily's room.

"Code blue!" The nurse from earlier screamed, and like that everything was going too fast for Paige to watch, so she focused on Emily only.

"Crash cart in here now!" A doctor yelled, Paige backed up to the wall, like she did earlier and did something that she had stopped doing years ago. She prayed to whoever or whatever was listening to not take Emily away from her. Not when they finally got themselves back on track.

"We need to go now! Get me an operating room now! This chest needs cracked so I can see the heart." The doctor yelled. The nurse jumped on the bed and straddled Emily as she continued administering CPR on the girl as they moved the bed to the elevators. Paige tried to follow but a nurse stopped her, "you really can't go to the OR. I will come get you when she is out, I promise." And like that, Paige was alone. Alone in a strange hospital. In a foreign area. She felt worse when she realized that this must have been how Emily felt waking up in the hospital after Paige asked out on her. This time, however, she would be there for her when she woke. It was four hours later when the nurse came back for Paige, telling her to simply follow her to the private room Emily was now in.

"Be careful with her, they had to make a small incision to get to the heart to shock it, but she will be sore." The nurse walked away, leaving Paige starring at the door to the girls room. A piece of paper above the door that said E:Fields Room 323. Paige took a deep breath and opened the door. Emily was now hooked up to many more machines than the first time. A mask over her face to help her breathe better. Paige stood in the doorway and cried. She was standing there for about ten minutes when a small movement from the bed caught her attention. Emily fingers were wiggling in her direction. Paige came forward and took the hand in her own, squeezing the gunners before bringing them to her lips to kiss them. She looked up to see Emily looking down at her, tears in her eyes. Emily moved her other arm in the direction of the mask, stopping halfway to it, doing the hand back down. Get and felt very heavy to her.

"Stop moving babe." Paige said. When she heard Emily trying to mumble something she put her head close to the girl and pulled her mask to the side slightly to hear what she was saying.

"You stopped my heart." Emily said before she fell back asleep.

Paige pulled a chair up beside her bed, like earlier and sat there holding her hand, crying over the girl she loved so much.


	13. Chapter 13

Emily slept for about twelve hours straight after that, Paige never leaving her side. She was playing with Emily's fingers laced through her own, when she felt Emily's twitch. Her eyes flew up to Emily's face to see the girls eyes closed, but eyebrows furrowed.

"Baby?" Paige said, seeking the girls face, her thumb running over Emily's eyebrows.

"Hmm, where am I?" Emily asked.

"The hospital." Paige replied, knowing the girl must have been really confused.

"What happened?" Emily asked. Paige then went on to explain what had happened with Emily, the whole time tears ran down her face. "Why are you crying? I'm ok."

"Because what if this would have happened to you the night I left? What if Spencer wouldn't of called the other girls and they wouldn't have been there with you?" Paige rushed all this out. Twelve hours was a long time to think about the 'what ifs'.

"Hey. It didn't happen, and you were here when it did. That is what important. Not the what ifs." Emily tried to sit up after speaking, but Paige put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"Want me to raise your bed?" Paige asked, Emily nodding her head. Paige moved to give over Emily so she could reach the buttons on the other side of the bed. Once Emily was in an upright position, she took a hold of Paige's face with one of her hands, holding the girl in place.

"Hi." Emily grinned up at her.

"Hi." Paige said back.

"Good your awake!" The girls were broken out of their staring by the doctor that had just walked in. "Good morning Ms. Fields. I'm Dr. Smith, I am who operated on you last night. Just checking in on you and wanted to let you know what happened exactly."

"I'm good. Just sore and exhausted." Emily said.

"That is to be expected. You actually had a minor heart attack the second time, when I had to take you to the OR. Before that, your heart was just overworked for the damage that it had sustained." The doctor said.

"What damage?" Paige asked, fearing the worst.

"Minor damage, actually. That is why the heart attack wasn't as bad as it could have been. The small incision above your left breast is where I went in and looked around with a small microscope camera. Saw just a little damage done and was able to repair most of it, the rest will heal with the and proper medication." Dr. Smith said.

"That is good news." Emily said, squeezing Paige's hand, trying to get the girl to look at her. But Paige's attention was focused intently on what the doctor was saying.

"It is good news. You will make a full recovery. You will get easily exhausted over the next few weeks to a few months, so we insist that you take it easy. A check-up with your regular doctor will need to be scheduled, but other than that, I can release you today under the care of your girlfriend here. I cannot however, clear you to fly just yet. Come back in a week and we will see how you feel." The doctor did and wrote something on Emily's charts. "I will be back in a little bit with your regular forms and some instructions for you to follow to make this recovery much more smooth."

"A heart attack. Wow." Emily said, looking at Paige, who had still not looked at the girl.

"No more drugs, no more drinking." Paige turned to Emily. "Promise me no more of either. Having to stand and watch you be messed over by nurses and doctors not once, but twice. Seeing you die right in front of me, hearing your heart stop. I can't do that again Emily. So promise me, the next time you feel like using or having a drink, you come to me." Tears were running down Paige's face.

"I promise Paige. No more. And I promise I will come to you if I feel I may slip. I went put you through it again." Emily said. Paige leaned forward and kissed Emily softly. She tried to pull away, but Emily grabbed both sides of her face and pulled her into her again.

"I don't think this is taking it easy." Paige said as she pulled back.

"I don't want to take it easy with this stuff." Emily whined.

"I'm not risking it." Paige said pulling back.

"Will you at least get in this bed with me? Cuddle?" Emily said, winking at the girl.

"I think I can do that." Paige crawled into bed letting Emily curl into her. Emily throwing her arm around Paige's stomach, resting her head on Paige's chest. It didn't take long for Paige to hear Emily's breathing slow down, falling asleep. Paige felt herself finally begin to relax, drifting off to sleep to the steady sound of Emily's heart monitor beeping.

An hour later the doctor woke Paige up for her to sign the papers. Then she explained Emily's care to the girl. How she would get really tired doing small everyday things. He suggested her taking a bath instead of a shower, she wouldn't be able to stand that long. When the doctor left the room Paige woke Emily up.

"I can take you back to the hotel if you feel up to it." Paige said, getting out of the bed.

"Yes please." Emily said.

"Alright, the gave me some scrubs to change you into." Paige said moving the clothes to Emily's bed. Paige pulled the girl up slowly do that she was sitting so she could untie the back of her gown. Once she had it untied she slid it off the girls shoulders. When Paige saw the fresh cut above Emily's left breast, she ran her thumb over it gently. Emily moved her hand over top of Paige's and layed it on top of hers.

"You were here. You saved me. That is all that matters." Emily whispered, pulling Paige's attention to her eyes.

"I know. I can't help but be scared and sad when I see it though." Paige said.

"I know." Emily replied as Paige pulled the scrub top down over Emily, pulling the girls arms through slowly. Once the shirt was on, Paige pulled the sheet down so she could put the scrub pants on the girl. Undressing her was one thing, but Emily saw the act of Paige helping her get dressed when she was sick as a sweet action. She loved this girl.

"Let's get out of here then." Paige said, putting Emily into a wheelchair. Paige took Emily downstairs and helped her get into a cab. All the way to the hotel, Emily slept with her head on Paige's shoulder.

"Babe, wake up, were at the hotel." Paige said, stroking the girls face. Emily stirred, but didn't wake up. Paige tried again but the girl wouldn't budge. Paige got out off the cab and walked to the other side. She prayed the cab driver, then scooped the girl up. Carrying her into the hotel for the girl a few odd looks. "She is just really tired." Paige told the girl working the front desk.

"Wait here." The girl said. She came back a few minutes later with a wheelchair. "Will this help?"

"Yes. Thank you. She had a mild heart attack, so she is getting tired quickly." Paige said as she set Emily down in the chair.

"Oh no. Well you keep that as long as you need. And don't hesitate to call the front desk for help." The girl said before the phone started ringing.

"Thank you." Paige said, seeking Emily to the elevators. A smile grows on her face when she thinks of what they did in this elevator.

"I know what your thinking about."

"Hmm, and what would that be?" Paige asked, looking down at Emily.

"We are so hot together." Emily said as she rolled her head to the other side, with her eyes closed.

"That we are." Paige bent down in front of the girl, stroking her face. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Keep me." Emily replied with a smirk.

"Oh we are definitely keeping you." Paige said, kissing Emily's forehead and pushing her out of the elevator towards their room.

"Alright, we need to get you your medicine and some lunch." Paige called and ordered room service. When it arrived, she sat Emily at the table and have her the food and then handed her the pills to take.

"No. I can't take these." Emily said.

"Babe, it's fine. I'm going to monitor you with them, and I will keep them on me." Paige said, placing her lips on the girls head. She felt Emily shaking her head beneath her. "Yes, please. I know you promised me you wouldn't take anymore pills, but this is different babe. You will not get any better if you don't take them. I'm not letting you abuse them. I won't let you go down that road again."

"Ok." Emily said after a few moments. After Emily took the pill, she asked Paige to lay down on the bed with her. Paige layed behind the girl, pulling her body tight against her own. "I love you." Emily whispered.

"I love you too." Paige whispered back, relaxing when she felt Emily slip of to sleep.

Paige woke about an hour later, laying on her back with Emily tucked into her side. Slipping out of bed she picked up her cell and made her way to the balcony, closing the sliding door do she wouldn't want Emily. She called Spencer's number and waited.

"Hey! Haven't heard from you in a few days, assumed things were going really well." Spencer said after the rings.

"No, yea things are going really well between us." Paige said.

"What's going on?" Spencer asked, concerned.

"Are the girls there?" Paige asked.

"Yes?" Spencer said.

"Put me on speaker." Paige said.

"Ok, your on." Spencer said, she could hear Spencer sushing Hannah.

"Before you start taking out, she is fine. She is sleeping right now back here at the hotel." She could hear the girls in the background taking all at once. "Hey! If you guys would shut up, I can finish. She had a mild heart attack. The doctor had to go in and do a little repair, but he said that it looked really good. We're actually back in our hotel. She is sleeping, a lot actually. It's normal, she is going to be tired for awhile. We can't fly out of here until she is cleared." She could hear the girls arguing before Hannah could be heard above them all.

"How are you guys doing?" She asked. Paige turned when she heard the door open. Emily stepped out onto the balcony and walked over to Paige, wrapping herself around the girl. Paige wrapped her free arm around Emily, kidding the top of her head.

"Were doing really good." Paige said, pulling Emily into her further.

"Then you two Emily the rest of your vacation, alone." Hannah said. Paige knew that this comment was directed to the girls on the other end of the phone. Aria and Spencer began to argue.

"Thank you Hannah. I'll call you soon." And with that, Paige hung up the phone. Wrapping her now free arm around Emily.

"I'll take it the other girls didn't like that Hannah won't let them come down?" Emily asked, a smile on her face thinking of her girls arguing to get to her.

"No they did not. Hannah said that we should enjoy the rest of our vacation, alone." Paige said.

"Can we do take out for dinner, rent a movie?" Emily asked.

"That sounds perfect." Paige said.

AN: So I am going on vacation for the week, starting tomorrow. This will be the last update for a week. I can post a chapter for the new story to hold you guys over for the week, I have a few chapters of it done. I am just not that far ahead with this story yet. Also I have not started the sequel to Awakenind yet. I am hoping to get some writing done this week, just won't be able to post, so be prepared for updates when I get home! Would you guys want me to post the first few chapters of my new story?


	14. Chapter 14

"Paige, you won't hurt me. You will however, break my heart of you don't cuddle with me right now." Emily said from her spot on the bed under all the blankets.

"What happens if I would roll over onto you? I don't want to hurt your chest." Paige said from her spot in the bathroom doorway, watching Emily get comfortable.

"Paige! You are not going to hurt me." Emily pouted.

"Emily! The doctor said to take it easy. I don't think that includes us sleeping together." Paige argued back.

"We are not going to fool around, Paige. I just want to wake up feeling you close to me. It has been three months too long. Please. For the love of God, get in this bed." Emily said. Paige slowly walked over to the bed and got under the sheets by Emily. She kept her distance at first, until Emily grabbed her hand and pulled her further into the bed. Once Paige was laying beside Emily on her back, Emily layed so the she was laying half on Paige. "Switch me sides."

"What?" Paige asked, lifting her upper half, thinking she was hurting Emily.

"I just need to lay on my right side so that this isn't smashed at an awkward angle." Emily said pointing to her left boob. When Emily went to straddle Paige she was stopped by the girls hands landing on her hips. Emily sat there smiling down at Paige until she felt Paige's hand moving the hem of her shirt up. "Paige, no fooling around." Emily said with a smirk.

"I need to see it." Paige said, her eyes leaving Emily's to stare at the girls chest.

"You have seen the girls before." Emily said.

"Shut up. You know what I need to see." Paige said as she pulled Emily's shirt the rest of the way off. Throwing it to the floor, she returned that hand to Emily's hips. She lifted her right hand and placed it on Emily's collar bone, using the pad of her thumb to smooth over Emily's soft skin just above the bone. She moved her hand lower so that her thumb was over the start of the incision on Emily, just above her left breast, tears in her eyes.. "The second time, that, um, that you stopped breathing, I really thought I was going to lose you. I, uh, I stood there in that room, and I watched them shock you, shock your heart. And I listened, listened for that small soft beep. I never took my eyes off of you. I just wanted you to sit up, to look at me with those brown eyes that I fell in love with. That I can read so well, and see so much in. My future, Em, I can see that in your eyes. But in those few minutes I saw that slipping away, I watched you slipping away from me. And I was so scared." Paige looked up at Emily, tear filed eyes, away from the six small stitches on the girls chest. She moved her hand to cup over the stitches, feeling Emily's heart beat. She moved Emily's hand to her own heart. "Mine stopped the moment yours did. My heart stopped. I couldn't breath. I could only hold my breath and wait. When I heard that faint beeping, saw you take that breath, my heart beat again. And then they wheeled you away." Paige looked back down at her hand one last time before looking back up. "I don't want that to happen again. I don't want to feel that again."

"Paige, look at me." Emily raised both hands and cupped both of Paige's cheeks between them, pulling her face up to look at her. "That isn't going to happen again. This has shown me what I don't want."

"I want forever with you Emily." Paige said, her grip on her hips tightening, her hand sliding up to Emily's neck.

"I want that too." Emily said as she pulled Paige's head to her lips, kissing her forehead. She felt Paige's lips on her incision, making her smile softly, tears on her face as well.

"I was so scared Em. I don't know what I would do without you." Paige mumbled onto her chest.

"I'm so sorry baby. But I promise that you will never feel that way again. At least not from drug or alcohol abuse." Emily said, she could feel Paige chuckle under her. She pulled the girl back and looked into her eyes. "Why are you laughing?"

"I guess I can't make you promise to always be healthy. You can't control some things your body does." Paige said with a smile. "I can't keep you in a bubble."

"That would make sex awkward." Emily said, winking at Paige.

"You would go there." Paige said, rolling her eyes. "Sleep." Paige said as she pulled Emily down on top of her. "You sleep on top of me, that way I can't roll over on you. Plus I love when you are all over me." Paige said, kissing Emily's head.

"Perfect." Emily said.

Emily woke first the next morning. She slowly made her way to the bathroom and bent to wash her face off. When she looked back up into the mirror she gasped at what she saw. She wouldn't even recognize herself anymore. She was paler than usual. Dark circles were under eyes. She was skinny. So skinny. She could make out all the bone in her face. The way her eyes were hallowed out. She looked down at her body in the mirror. Her ribs poking out under her skin. It looked like the bone could easily poke through the skin if she tried. She ran her hand up her front, feeling first, the ribs on her left side. Then her right. She couldn't remember when she had let this happen to her body. She was always in shape. She then ran her fingers over the stitches above her left breast. This is what she did to herself. She broke her own heart. Damaged it. And it almost killed her.

"You are still so beautiful." Paige said from behind the girl in the doorway. She made her way over and encircled Emily's hips, pulling the girl back into her and kissing her neck.

"I'm not the same." Emily said sadly, once Paige placed her chin on Emily's shoulder. "I'm pale, skinny and my eyes look horrible. Like I have been punched over and over."

"I still think you are perfect. Still the same girl I fell in love with back in high school. Things will get better, Em. We will get you back to food health and these things will get back to normal. You just hit rock bottom. But I am here to get you to the same girl you were." Paige said, squeezing Emily gently.

"I love you." Emily said, looking into the mirror making eye contact with Paige.

"I love you too. Now you need to get a bath, and I have to help you." Paige walked over to the bath tub, starting the water and adjusting it. Paige began to throw in Emily's favorite bubble bath soap, making sure the tub filled enough to cover the girl to her shoulders. She turned and removed what clothes Emily still had on and led her to the tub. Once Emily was settled and seemed relaxed, her eyes closed, Paige stood and removed her own clothes. She had Emily scoot up and said in behind her.

"Hmmm." Was all Emily could mumble out, tired from standing at the mirror too long.

"I love any form of you, don't forget that. But I want my healthy looking woman back. And we will get there, I promise." Paige said, placing a kiss on Emily's shoulder. She washed Emily off as the girl slept, and when the water went cold Paige removed her from the tub and into the bedroom, placing the naked girl under the sheets and bed spread. Paige slipped into her robe an nd walked onto the balcony. She text all the girls letting them know what was going on. For the first time since Emily started using, Paige cried in relief. For the first time she felt like the girl was really trying, and this made her happy.

"Paige?" She heard Emily mumble from the bed.

"Yes babe?" Paige said back trying to hide her tears.

"Will you come lay with me?" Emily asked sweetly.

"Yes." Paige replied. She made her way inside after wiping her tears away. She got under the covers and layed behind Emily, careful not to bump her stitches, she pulled the girl back against her, burying her face in her hair.


	15. Chapter 15

A week later found the girls heading home. The doctor had cleared Emily to fly, and both girls were anxious to get back to NYC and to the other girls. Paige was worried the entire flight that Emily would switch back to her old ways as soon as she was off the plane. Emily proved her wrong by never once letting go of Paige's hand. Not even when she fell asleep on the flight into California, and the flight to NYC after their change over. Spencer agreed to meet the girls at the airport and give them a ride. Emily was beyond exhausted and slept the entire ride.

"Spencer, our exit is coming up. You better switch lanes." Paige said.

"Were not going there." Spencer replied.

"Are we going to yours?" Paige asked.

"No." Was all Spencer said before giving Paige a look that the girl knew meant to stop asking questions. Spencer pulled her car into the parking garage of her building, confusing Paige even more.

"Spencer, you said we weren't coming here." Paige said as Paige made her way to Emily's door and Spencer took the luggage out of the back.

"No. I said we weren't going to my apartment. Now get your girl and follow me, there will be plenty of time for questions later." Spencer said as she made her way to the elevators, Paige in your carrying a sleeping Emily.

Getting off the floor above Spencer's, Paige followed the girl about four doors away from the elevator, stopping long enough to pull keys out of her pockets and unlock the door. Stepping inside, Paige noticed that all of the furniture from her apartment was sitting in this new, cleaner, and probably healthier, apartment. The walls were painted the same color as the old one too.

"What did you do?" Paige asked, looking around with her mouth hanging open. Her voice rising caused Emily to stir.

"Second door on the left." Spencer pointed down the hall. Paige took Emily and layed her down on their bed, that she found in the room Spencer told her directions too. Once Emily settled back down Paige quietly left the room, leaving the door cracked in case Emily called for her.

"Ok, now you can spill." Paige said as she made her way into the kitchen.

"We all chipped in and moved you out of that part of the city to this safe building. The girls, Emily's parents, Toby and I, we want you guys as far away from that part of New York as possible. We don't want Emily tempted to go back to that lifestyle." Spencer said.

"We can't, I can't accept this Spence. It's too much." Paige said, years in her eyes.

"Too save Emily's life, to keep you two together, it would never be too much. You didn't walk away from her. You fought to bring her home. To get our Emily back. This is our way of making sure you can keep her here for good. This way you don't have to work doubles Paige, it is rent controlled, and it's paid for five years. Don't flip out, it went with the lease." Spencer added the last part when she saw Paige's mouth open to protest them paying for five years. Paige was floored. She was speechless. She did the only thing she could think to do to show Spencer how much she appreciated it. She stood and ran to the girl to hug her. When she felt Spencer's arms encircle her, she broke down crying.

"I watched her die Spence, I don't ever want to see that again. So thank you, for all of this." Paige cried out.

"Your welcome. Now go be with her Paige. It is going to be a hard adjustment." Spencer said, turning and leaving the girl standing in her new kitchen. Paige walked around looking in all the rooms. Three bedrooms, two baths, a large living room and kitchen. She couldn't believe it. Her eyes filed with tears again as she stood in the living room looking at the view of central park.

"Paige where are we?" Emily asked, walking out of the bedroom Paige had placed her in. "Paige what's wrong?" Emily asked when she saw the tears running down Paige's face.

"We have amazing support from your parents and the girls, you know that." Paige said, smiling at Emily. "We are home Em." Paige held her hands up in a way that said, ta-da.

"Paige this isn't our home. This is, this is like Spencer's home." Emily laughed.

"The girls and your parents paid five years rent on this place for us. They painted it the same. Moved all our belongings. It's our home now." Paige stepped closer to Emily.

"Why?" Emily asked, amazed at what had happened to them.

"Because they love you and wanted you out of that neighborhood." Paige said, standing behind Emily and wrapping her arms around her, resting her head on her shoulder.

"They love you just as much." Emily whispered, distracted by the view out of their living room window. "So beautiful."

"Yes it is." Paige said, looking at Emily as the girl looked outside. Just then Paige's phone went off, telling her she had a text. Opening it she read Spencer's message telling her that she had some important mail on the counter. Picking up the stack Paige saw that one was from her station and the other was from the court house. Paige got a sinking feeling in her stomach. This is what she was getting returning home to their normal routine. The backlash of what she had done.


	16. Chapter 16

Paige stood at the table holding the envelope. Her mind going through the worst possible cases. Years in prison for police brutality. Who would look after Emily if she were to go to jail. Surely the girl would slip into her old ways, and with Paige gone who would make sure she didn't drug or drink herself to death this time.

"Paige, you are never going to know what is in it until you open it. Don't worry yourself." Emily had snuck up to Paige and smoothed the girls eyebrows down that had crinkle up with her thoughts.

"What if it is bad, Em?" Paige asked, never taking her eyes off the envelope.

"Then we will stick together. Now, open it. The anxiety isn't good for my heart." Emily half kidded with the girl.

"Do you hurt? Maybe we should go lie down." Paige fussed over Emily, setting down the mail.

"I was kidding. Kinda. Open the letter, and then we can rest." Emily said handing it to Paige.

Paige turned the envelope over and ran her hand through the sealed portion, opening it. She pulled out the letter and saw that it was a subpoena for the State Of New York Vs. Tammy Meyers. She saw that the date was for the coming Wednesday. Two days from now. Paige looked down at the other envelope and saw another one for her and one for Emily. She handed Emily hers and opened her second one. This one was from the station's lawyer telling her to call him so they could go over her testimony.

"Just a subpoena. That's not bad." Emily said, breaking Paige from her reading.

"I have to testify." Paige said, handing Emily her second letter.

"This is good though. The station helping with the lawyer." Emily said.

"I'm not really worried about getting a lawyer, Em. I'm more worried with the fact that I have to testify in a case that I lost my head in." Paige said.

"I'm sorry I made you do this." Emily said.

"It wasn't your fault Emily. I went after her on my own. I shouldn't have lost it like that. I'm going to go call this lawyer, set up a time to go see him tomorrow. Then I am setting up an appointment with the cardiologist here. You have to go see them sometime this week." Paige went to turn towards the balcony when Emily pulled her into a hug.

"I love you." Emily whispered.

"I love you too Emily." Paige said, tightening her hold around the girl. "Go lay down, I will be right in after my phone calls." Paige kissed the top of Emily's head and made her way towards the balcony. Emily sends the girls a quick text that her and Paige will be serving them dinner at their place tomorrow night. All the girls reply that they would be there.

On the balcony Paige gets off the phone with the lawyer after telling him that she would be in the station tomorrow morning at seven. She then calls the doctors office and makes an appointment for ten in the morning after her meeting with the lawyer. Paige makes her way back inside and begins unpacking boxes of their clothing as quietly as possible. After an hour she hears Emily did stir in the bed behind her and she turns to see the girl sitting up on her elbows looking at her.

"All done unpacking our clothes." Paige said.

"Darn, I slept through the hard work." Emily fake pouted as Paige made her way to the bed crawling over so that she was half on top of the girl on her right side. Paige was still taking it easy with Emily. "So we are coming dinner for the girls tomorrow evening."

"We are?" Paige asked, her head in the crook of Emily's neck.

"Yes. As the first of many thank yous to them. I can't believe they did this." Emily said, tightening her hold on Paige.

"We have amazing people in our lives babe. They just want to see you happy and back to your old self." Paige stated. "So, tomorrow morning I am going down to the station too meet with the lawyer. You are going to have to go with me to that so I can take you to the doctor after. Your appointment is at ten. Mine is at seven."

"It's nine now. We should go get showered and in bed if you want me up by six." Emily said as she pushed Paige off her and got out of bed.

"Right." Paige rolled out behind Emily and followed her to the bathroom that connected to their bedroom. Everything from their old apartment was moved into their new bathroom, except for new towels. Paige worked through the motions of helping Emily into the shower and waiting for her to get out. Blow drying her hair and dressing her in night clothes since Emily still couldn't bend down fully. After sending her into the bedroom to lay down, Paige's did the same things to herself. She she was finished she came out to see Emily laying under the sheets, half asleep watching something on the tv. Paige called in behind her and watched the show Emily had on until she finally fell asleep.

In the morning after Paige's alarm went off and both girls are breakfast and for easy, they got into a cab and headed to the station. The whole way there Paige's leg was bouncing up and down from her nervous energy. Emily placed her hand on Paige's leg, stilling the movement. At the station Paige sat Emily at her desk and told her she would be right out after. Paige entered a conference room in the station and took a seat in front of a greasy looking man.

"Officer McCuller's? I'm your lawyer, Merv Dawson." The man shook Paige's hand.

"Nice to meet you, you can just call me Paige." She said after she let go of his hand.

"Ok. The station really is concerned with me getting you out of trouble. I think we could actually get a very nice settlement from Miss Meyers for this. We could just use name slander as a main cause." The man was moving papers around in front of Paige.

"I'm not interested in money. I would just like her to go to jail for selling laced drugs to my girlfriend, and anyone else who bought." Paige said.

"Girlfriend? They never mentioned I would be defending a dyke." He mumbled the last part under his breath, thinking Paige hasn't heard him.

"Excuse me? Did you really just use that word to describe me? I should sue you for slander. I think I will be finding my own lawyer for this case, and I will definitely be reporting you. I hope you enjoyed your last case with NYPD." Paige said as she stood and knocked her chair over, storming out of the room. She gained the attention of her fellow officers and the chief as she came out towards her desk to get Emily. "We are leaving."

"Why? What happened?" Emily asked as Paige helped her up.

"McCullers!" Her chief yelled. "What happened in there?" He asked when he got closer.

"Why don't you try to find a lawyer that doesn't use slanderous terms when referring to me and my girlfriend? Better yet, I will find my own." Paige said.

"I'll take care of him. Sure you want to find your own?" He asked.

"Yes. I need someone that knows this case and respects me. I will call you when I get one." Paige said as she walked with Emily out of the station. "How about breakfast?"

"What happened in there Paige?" Emily asked once they were sitting in the booth of a dinner a block from the hospital.

"He referred to me as a dyke under his breath, but I heard him." Paige said.

"I'm sorry babe." Emily said as she placed her hand over Paige's across the table. "But I will be right there in that courtroom no matter what happens."

"I know." Paper said as she paid their bill. "Let's get you to the doctor." The two walked the block and a half to Emily's doctor, tiredness showing on Emily's features as she began walking slower as they went. She all but collapsed in the chair in the waiting room as Paige went to check in.

"So Ms. Fields, how do you feel today?" The doctor asked once the girls were in the exam room.

"Tired. I'm tired a lot lately." Emily said.

"Any pain or discomfort?" The doctor asked as he wrote on his note pad.

"A little pain. Nothing like before the surgery." Emily said.

"I'm going to up your medication a little. You are going to get tired out more frequently for the next few months. Just take it easy, listen to your body." He scribbled on a perception pad and handed it to Paige. "See you in two weeks, unless something else occurs."

"Are you sure we should still have people over tonight, I mean you look exhausted Em." Paige said as they walked through the small grocery store, buying items to cook for dinner.

"I can rest when we get home before we start cooking. I'm fine Paige." Emily said. The two bought their items and made their way back to the apartment. Once there, Emily made good on her word and went to lay down. Paige prepared the food that they would need to cook later, and then went into the living room to watch tv. Around three thirty, Emily made her way into the living room to see Paige laying on the couch. She laughed at the girl, she had her head tipped back on the head rest, her mouth open. Emily walked over and crawled on top of Paige, straddling her hips. She began to lay small kisses on Paige's neck, biting a little when she felt the girl stirring.

"Emily." Paige moaned out, eyes still closed. Emily lowered her hands to Paige's hips, pushing her shirt up and running her hand up the girls taunt stomach. "Ok Emily, we really need to get started on cooking for the girls." Paige protested to Emily's assault on her neck. Emily shook her head in the crook of Paige neck. "Yes. Besides, the doctor said to take it easy."

"I'm not straining anything." Emily mumbled onto her neck.

"No, babe. If you can't do anything, then I want to wait too." Paige said as she pulled Emily up and sat up.

"Let me take care of you." Emily said.

"You don't have to, I'm good." Paige let out a chuckle. "Let's go start coming, the girls will be here soon."

An hour later the girls showed up and opened bottles of wine. Everyone had a glass, and on Emily's request, Paige had one too. Emily poured herself a glass of water, taking her pills before continuing to move about the room. She felt a little dizzy, and just thought she needed her pills to kick in. So she didn't say anything to Paige.

"So how is she doing?" Spencer asked.

"Tired, but good. We had a busy day today. Went to the station to meet the prick lawyer they tried to get me to use. Then to her doctor. He upped her medicine until we see him again in two weeks." Paige said.

"What was wrong with the lawyer they have you?" Paige recounts the incident at the station for Spencer. "What an asshole!"

"Yea, really Paige." Aria said. Aria and Hannah were sitting on the love seat and Spencer and Paige were on the couch.

"Why don't you represent her Spencer?" Hannah suggested.

"I couldn't ask you to do that after everything you have already done for us." Paige said.

"Then it is a good thing I didn't ask you." Spencer said with a smirk. "Consider it done." Before Paige could protest a loud crash was heard from the kitchen, all the girls jumping up and running to see what had happened.


	17. Chapter 17

"Em, are you alright?" Hannah asked as Paige helped her off the floor.

"Yea, I just got a little dizzy." Emily said, leaning into Paige.

"How about you go with Aria and sit down, and I will finish cooking?" Paige suggested, looking at Emily.

"Ok." Emily said as Aria took Emily from Paige and walked towards the living room.

"Has this happened before?" Spencer asked as she helped Paige clean up a dish Emily had dropped.

"She is just getting tired lately. She doesn't like that she can't do normal things without feeling tired. She can hardly take a full shower without feeling tired." Paige said as she pulled the casserole out of the oven.

"That sucks. What did the doctor say?"

"He upped her medicine. Said it would be a few more weeks." Paige said, greeting more dishes out.

"Let me represent you. The girls can be there with Emily when you go on the stand, I can have your back. Besides, I know the whole story already, and it is a day away." Spencer pleaded.

"Thank you Spencer." Paige said as she pulled the girl in for a hug.

"You are very welcome. Just keep her safe and away from that life." Spencer said to the girl.

"Gladly." Paige said.

The dinner went smoothly, Emily tiring out and heading to bed half way through, much as she hated it. The girls stayed until Paige threw them out, Spencer telling her to be ready to leave by 9 the following morning for the court house. Paige was doing the dishes when she felt a pair of arms encircle her waist and lips landed on her shoulder.

"Have I said how much I love you lately?" Emily mumbled into Paige's shoulder.

"It is always nice to hear." Paige replied.

"Come to bed please, we can finish this in the morning. Right now I just want to be with you." Emily said as she pulled Paige with her into their bedroom. They changed into the pajamas and Emily crawled in behind Paige under the covers, her hand landing on Paige's stomach. She started placing soft kisses on Paige's neck and shoulders, while moving her hand up under Paige's sleep to run across smooth warm skin.

"What are you doing, Em?" Paige asked as she rolled over to be under Emily.

"Trying to give my girlfriend a little." Emily said with a wink, making Paige laugh.

"No offense, but you can't really be giving it out right now." Paige said.

"No, the doctor said for me to take it easy, he never said you couldn't have any fun. And before you protest, Paige, you need a stress relief, and for the love of God, I just want to be close to you. So you can fight it all you want, but I am going to sex you up tonight." Emily said firmly.

"Ok, but if you start..." Paige was cut off by Emily's lips attaching to her neck and sucking. The moan that escaped the girls lips let Emily know that Paige had given up any fight she had in her to protest her actions. The next morning Paige woke up with a naked Emily pushed up against her back. Before Paige had passed out she requested that Emily undress too. It was one of their favorite ways to sleep, with no barriers between them. She was pulled out of her thoughts of last night when her phone started ringing. Emily stirred beside her and mumbled something that Paige didn't understand before she rolled over and went back to sleep.

"Hello?"

"I hope you are at least getting ready. I will get you in an hour, your trial has been pushed up." Spencer said in one breath before hanging up of Paige. Paige made a mad dash for the bathroom and started getting ready. She text Hannah and Aria explaining that she was in a hurry and that Emily was still in bed. Both girls told her to go with Spencer and they would make sure that Emily was there on time.

Entering the court house that Paige had been in too many times to count, she suddenly got very nervous. Usually she was only ever here to defend her actions as a cop, now she was to defend herself as civilian. She goes over and over her actions in her head a hundred times. Each time had the same outcome, defend Emily. Protect Emily, the girl she loved more than anything.

"Thinking about me?" Her voice broke Paige from her thoughts and the girl turned so that she was looking straight into her eyes.

"I'm scared Em." Paige finally admitted out loud.

"I know. But look, you have the best lawyer you could ask for. And Tammy has more convictions against her than you do. We will go up, give our testimonies, answer their questions honestly, and Spencer will do her job to protect us." Emily wrapped her arms around Paige and pulled the girl so that her head was resting on her shoulders.

"Your right. I just need to relax and tell the truth. The system will take care of her." Paige let out a breath.

"The system will take care of you too." Said a voice from behind the girls.

"Tammy, no talking to them, we discussed that." A tall black man in a navy blue suit said to Tammy as he came up beside her.

"Right. See you in there Emily." Tammy said as she brushed her nose, almost like a salute in Emily's direction. Spencer had to put her hand around Paige's upper arm to stop her from going after the girl.

"Let me take care of it, it isn't worth it for you to go after her. Not here. Not now." Spencer whispered to the girl so she didn't draw attention to them.

"Come on." Emily said as she held Paige's hand and moved to the doors as they were directed into the courtroom. Paige took a seat by Spencer at one of the tables in the front. Emily and the girls say behind them on the other side of the gates. When the judge entered the room they all rose and waited to be seated.

"We are here today to hear the case of The State of New York Vs. Tammy Meyers case number 24632. The State of New York wishes that Tammy Meyers be put in prison for life, with no chance of early release or parole due to selling pure grade cocaine laced with other drugs, killing 2 and hospitalizing 1. At least to the States knowledge. Tammy Meyers is countering with the statement that she was "brutally attacked by an officer of the NYPD, Paige McCullers, and wishes that the defendant be fired from her job and her sentence be lightened due to the extent of her trauma from the incident." Is this the correct statements?" Both Spencer and Tammy's lawyers nodded their heads in agreement to the judges statement. "Usually I would let these cases go to trial, as I would do with every case. But this one hits a little too close to home for me to do that today. My own daughter was given drugs in college that killed her. Her seller knew they were laced, but sold them anyway. Tammy has been in here before, before me four other times. Found guilty of multiple drug related charges. I have given you multiple chances to change, and you haven't. Tammy Meyers, I find you guilty of possessing and distributing drugs, that when a drug test was done, matched the drugs found in the system of both people that it killed, Margret Renoylds and Thomas Davidson, and the one that was hospitalized, Emily Fields. As for the matter of Paige McCullers and using police brutality, I find her not guilty. Ms. McCullers, at the time of the attack, was not wearing a police uniform. As for her actions, I would have done the same thing. I am ordering that Ms. McCullers take twelve anger management classes, two classes twice a week for six weeks under the supervisment of her lawyer Spencer Hastings. Hastings, I want you to check in with me and give me reports of her progress. As for the matter of Ms. Emily Fields, please step forward." Emily stepped through the gate and approached the judge, stopping when she stood in front of him. "I hope that with your health the way it is, and today's hearing, you have learned the seriousness of your actions. I took the liberty of going over your college transcripts. You have a bright future ahead of you. Are you aware of what a drug charge, of any kind, would look like in your background checks?"

"Yes your honor." Emily said in a small voice.

"I am ordering random drug tests for you for the next six months. One slip up, and I will be putting it on your record and I will send you away for a long time." With that the judge raised his gavel and banged it down, letting everyone in the room know his ruling was final. Rising to his feet, everyone in the room rose with him, before he walked out he turned back to Emily. "Don't waste this opportunity Ms. Fields. I'm out of second chances for you."

With that he walked out of the courtroom. The police walked over and handcuffed a fuming Tammy and escorted her out of a side door in the courtroom. Emily turned around and walked over to where Spencer and Paige were sitting with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"Well, I guess that could have been so much worse. I have to go to his chambers to get the paper work on your anger management classes. I will meet you guys back at your house." Spencer said, standing and grabbing her breifcase before leaving out the door the judge had used. Paige stood and was just about to pull Emily into her, the color had not returned to the girls face since being called to the judges stand, when Paige's chief approached them.

"McCullers, take the rest of the week paid off, get your affairs in order and your anger management classes scheduled. I will see you back at work on Monday morning." Shaking her hand he walked away from the girls.

"Breathe." Paige said as she pulled Emily into her, holding her close.

"Paige, I, I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't given me a second chance. I would probably have never made it." Paige cut her off by kissing her lips firmly.

"I don't want to think about that. I don't want to think about any of that. This is our second chance, Em. I'm not wasting it on what could have been. Were going to move past this, were going to be better. I love you, and I will always have a second chance for you. You are my happy ending." Paige said firmly.

"I love you too Paige. I just can't wait for you and Spence to take these anger management classes." Emily laughed as the two made their way out of the courthouse headed towards their home. "Let's have a little dinner tonight, again, to celebrate this new beginning."

"You sure you are up for it? You still can't be over doing it Em."

"I know, that is why we are going to be ordering out and watching a movie. Us and the girls. I will even take a nap as soon as we get home." Emily turned her head and winked at Paige.


End file.
